Beginning of Essay
begins Canto XXVIII with a rhetorical question. Virgil and he have just arrived in the Ninth Abyss of the Eighth Circle of hell. In this pouch the Sowers of Discord and Schism are continually wounded by a demon with a sword. poses a question to the reader: R ....

Middle of Essay
.... give them the poetic power for such description. His reasoning is "the shallowness of both our speech and intellect cannot contain so much." (Lines 5-6) Once again the reader is intrigued. How could a man of Dante's stature criticize language, which is the very tool he uses to create the epic work of La Commedia? If we cannot take Dante seriously with these opening statements, we must pose the question of what Dante is trying to do, by teasing us with this artificial beginning to Canto XVIII? Dante will now contradict himself and try to describe what he says is impossible. But, if he were to go right into a description of the Ninth Abyss, it would ....